At first we tried to cut a hole in the ninja’s hand and simply insert the stick. TOTAL PAIN–the slightest forcing of stick “broke” it and then we had a wasted glowstick. Luckily, a friend of mine had warned me so we had a plan B.

We busted out some mailing labels, colored them with markers to match the hands, cut them down to match size of hand in photo, and simply stuck them to the stick.

In the morning, we added another step. There’s ALWAYS another step! The mailing labels weren’t “sticking” so we upped the stick factor—duct tape. Solved!

Grasshopper also wanted a girl version valentine.

Apparently girls don’t watch Ninjago?

Whew! Are you still with me?

I’ll spare you the step by step with Sonny’s valentines. Despite my best effort to persuade him of a cute (and very easy) bus valentine, he wanted “ghosts”. The kid can’t accept that Halloween is over.

With a hefty dose of skepticism, I googled “ghost valentine” and actually found a really clever saying on a vintage card. Then, I kicked it old school in Microsoft Word with clip art.

We made fun ghosts by wrapping a coffee filter around a lollipop, tying with festive ribbon, and then adding some heart stickers for eyes. DONE!

Now, if only I had a plan for dealing with soon-to-be sugar-hyped children! Pass the wine bottle…